NO DISMISSAL IN BOMBING TRIAL

A TANZANIAN magistrate rejected a defense request on Friday that charges against two defendants in last year’s bombing of the US Embassy in Dar es Salam be dropped because the trial should have began earlier. Egyptian Mustapha Mahmoud Said Ahmed and Tanzanian Rashid Saleh Hemed were charged on September 21 with 11 murder counts each in the August 7 bombing. The defense had asked for dismissal as the trial had not began within 60 days since the two were charged. But the magistrate said the law was amended in 1988 and no longer applies to murder charges.